Hi! The very first linux test files are now available from the PageStream
4.1 Linux download page.

First, forgive me if I don't know everything there is to know about Linux!
(Not that I ever will, but I should know more, not less, than the average
user So if something in my explanation doesn't ring true, please say
something

No installer, and the lib files need to be someplace that the system can
find them. You can copy them to your system libs folder, or add the path to
the system search path and update the system cache. I've lost my notes for
this, so I'll find and post that info tomorrow. I'm still trying to get a
grasp on how things are distributed and how files are located in the system.

The program test is a small little gnome application that will first open a
small dialog that will let you step through several different tests. Just
keep click on the ok button till it goes away. If something says it fails,
or of course it crashes, please let me know! If you use any utiltities that
check for memory troubles etc, please use them and let me know if anything
goes wrong!

Then a sample new document requester will open. It should respond to
changes in the system "skins" (at least it will if you are running gnome
desktop, haven't had a chance to try it with KDE yet) and should adapt to
various fonts/sizes. Let me know how it goes for you. This requester is the
main work that I am doing for this project. As mentioned before, I am
working on a new system that will let us use a single resource definition
for all the platforms and all the langauges.

The system will ideally have a single resource file for each
program/library/module. I may end up creating some kind of "export" to
build system specific resource/locals to work with the standard system
method. So far it hasn't really bothered anyone one the other 3 platforms,
so I don't know if it is needed. If this all works out, we will only have
to translate for a language once, and then only make minor updates when new
features are added. Even more so, the older translations will work with new
versions of the programs, just that the new stuff will be in english
instead of the local language.

Well, enough for now. Sorry for all the delays. The new level requires that
I finialize converting the resource files to the new format. Just got to
finish building the tools to do so and finialize a few things. Luckily all
the weekend play plans fell through, so I should be around this weekend
working on it.

Deron Kazmaier - support@grasshopperllc.com
Grasshopper LLC Publishing -http://www.grasshopperllc.com
PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows

On Friday 21 February 2003 22:19, PageStream Support wrote:
> Hi! The very first linux test files are now available from the PageStream
> 4.1 Linux download page.
>
> First, forgive me if I don't know everything there is to know about Linux!
> (Not that I ever will, but I should know more, not less, than the average
> user So if something in my explanation doesn't ring true, please say
> something
>
> No installer, and the lib files need to be someplace that the system can
> find them. You can copy them to your system libs folder, or add the path to
> the system search path and update the system cache. I've lost my notes for
> this, so I'll find and post that info tomorrow. I'm still trying to get a
> grasp on how things are distributed and how files are located in the
> system.

Minor issue: the links in the archive point to /home/deron/PageStream ...

In other words, the links are going to be invalid. Easy enough to fix. I did
ln -s <library> <new name> in the same directory so that I could copy the
directory around w/o breaking the links.

> The program test is a small little gnome application that will first open a
> small dialog that will let you step through several different tests. Just
> keep click on the ok button till it goes away. If something says it fails,
> or of course it crashes, please let me know! If you use any utiltities that
> check for memory troubles etc, please use them and let me know if anything
> goes wrong!

The checking list ended w/ Hello, but took a *long* time to get there. Though
that could be because I'm using UAE, wine and other stuff at the moment and
the CPU is constantly pegged ;^) I double checked the math portion and it was
right (it had more significant digits than the simple command line calculator
I use, but given that they agreed).

The sample print requestor was functional in terms of opening and being able
to type in it. Sorry, forgot to see if I could do math in that requestor.
Noticed that checking "doublesided" didn't unghost "facing pages". I'm
assuming that the page sizes are read from a resource not available to this
testing prog?

> Then a sample new document requester will open. It should respond to
> changes in the system "skins" (at least it will if you are running gnome
> desktop, haven't had a chance to try it with KDE yet) and should adapt to
> various fonts/sizes. Let me know how it goes for you. This requester is the
> main work that I am doing for this project. As mentioned before, I am
> working on a new system that will let us use a single resource definition
> for all the platforms and all the langauges.

It used the system title bar. I never got that much into weirded out skins so
not sure about that. It also looked to be using my system font, though I
confess I forgot about that point until writing up this response -- I have my
fonts set large for my poor eyes and the fact that I didn't notice anything
wrong is a good indicator all was well. Didn't have any memory checking going
at the time to see if there was something wrong there and I have so much
memory that my simple memory meter on the bar just doesn't register much of
anything so I'll have to do some more later.

> The system will ideally have a single resource file for each
> program/library/module. I may end up creating some kind of "export" to
> build system specific resource/locals to work with the standard system
> method. So far it hasn't really bothered anyone one the other 3 platforms,
> so I don't know if it is needed. If this all works out, we will only have
> to translate for a language once, and then only make minor updates when new
> features are added. Even more so, the older translations will work with new
> versions of the programs, just that the new stuff will be in english
> instead of the local language.

Sounds excellent!

> Well, enough for now. Sorry for all the delays. The new level requires that
> I finialize converting the resource files to the new format. Just got to
> finish building the tools to do so and finialize a few things. Luckily all
> the weekend play plans fell through, so I should be around this weekend
> working on it.

Sorry to hear that plans fell through. I'm antsy for PageStream, but R&R is a
good thing. I'm taking a 500 mile trip today and returning tomorrow, so no
more testing from this weekend. Good coding!

Tim Doty

>
>
> Deron Kazmaier - support@grasshopperllc.com
> Grasshopper LLC Publishing -http://www.grasshopperllc.com
> PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> PageStreamLinuxBeta-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject tohttp://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

>
>
>On Friday 21 February 2003 22:19, PageStream Support wrote:
>
>
>>Hi! The very first linux test files are now available from the PageStream
>>4.1 Linux download page.
>>
>>First, forgive me if I don't know everything there is to know about Linux!
>>(Not that I ever will, but I should know more, not less, than the average
>>user So if something in my explanation doesn't ring true, please say
>>something
>>
>>No installer, and the lib files need to be someplace that the system can
>>find them. You can copy them to your system libs folder, or add the path to
>>the system search path and update the system cache. I've lost my notes for
>>this, so I'll find and post that info tomorrow. I'm still trying to get a
>>grasp on how things are distributed and how files are located in the
>>system.
>>
>>
>>The program test is a small little gnome application that will first open a
>>small dialog that will let you step through several different tests. Just
>>keep click on the ok button till it goes away. If something says it fails,
>>or of course it crashes, please let me know! If you use any utiltities that
>>check for memory troubles etc, please use them and let me know if anything
>>goes wrong!
>>
>>
>>Then a sample new document requester will open. It should respond to
>>changes in the system "skins" (at least it will if you are running gnome
>>desktop, haven't had a chance to try it with KDE yet) and should adapt to
>>various fonts/sizes. Let me know how it goes for you. This requester is the
>>main work that I am doing for this project. As mentioned before, I am
>>working on a new system that will let us use a single resource definition
>>for all the platforms and all the langauges.
>>
>>
Hi Deron,
the tests passed on my comp. Of course, the same problem with libraries,
and the same solution as Tim .
The font and theme seems to be OK as well.
BTW my system is Redhat 8.0.
Kindly regards

Vaclav Misek

> > Hi! The very first linux test files are now available from the PageStream
> > 4.1 Linux download page.
> >
> > First, forgive me if I don't know everything there is to know about Linux!
> > (Not that I ever will, but I should know more, not less, than the average
> > user So if something in my explanation doesn't ring true, please say
> > something
> >
> > No installer, and the lib files need to be someplace that the system can
> > find them. You can copy them to your system libs folder, or add the path to
> > the system search path and update the system cache. I've lost my notes for
> > this, so I'll find and post that info tomorrow. I'm still trying to get a
> > grasp on how things are distributed and how files are located in the
> > system.
>
>Minor issue: the links in the archive point to /home/deron/PageStream ...
>
>In other words, the links are going to be invalid. Easy enough to fix. I did
>ln -s <library> <new name> in the same directory so that I could copy the
>directory around w/o breaking the links.

Yea, without an installer (or package config or whatever Linux calls it), I
didn't know what to do! Didn't think about them being positioned
relatively. Another item learned today. I guess I can go back to bed (you
know the old saying that you should learn something new everyday).

> > The program test is a small little gnome application that will first open a
> > small dialog that will let you step through several different tests. Just
> > keep click on the ok button till it goes away. If something says it fails,
> > or of course it crashes, please let me know! If you use any utiltities that
> > check for memory troubles etc, please use them and let me know if anything
> > goes wrong!
>
>The checking list ended w/ Hello, but took a *long* time to get there. Though
>that could be because I'm using UAE, wine and other stuff at the moment and
>the CPU is constantly pegged ;^)

It is a really big list. I tried to actualy tax some of the system. The
memory allocations are something like 10,000 allocations of 1000 bytes plus
some other stuff to check that memory does not get stomped, and the memory
handles (growable/shrinkable memory) are some 1,000 memory handles that get
allocated at 1,000 bytes and then shrunk down to 100 bytes and then grown
up to 10,000 bytes. Again checking memory. The lists create something like
100,000 nodes in reverse order and then sorts them then scans them to make
sure they are sorted and the data is still valid etc. The file writes a
file in /tmp and then seeks to the beginning and writes some data over the
start, then checks the file size, and closes the file then reads the file
start and checks that it is ok and then deletes the file and a few other
things.

One other cool think I just learned about the gnome_vfs library we are
using for reading/writting! Not only can you load/save files across the
internet but you can also load/save files in an archive!

>I double checked the math portion and it was
>right (it had more significant digits than the simple command line calculator
>I use, but given that they agreed).

Thanks! I did also. When I was writting the code I did find a few bugs that
we got fixed, but I am 99% sure that the OS lib test as written will work
on any machine now, but this is kind of a sanity check that gtk, gnome_vfs
and a few other libs are installed on machines, and that I am in sync with
reality. Of course, this test only uses about 20-30% of the calls in the
library. I got overwhelmed trying to write test codes for everything.

>The sample print requestor was functional in terms of opening and being able
>to type in it. Sorry, forgot to see if I could do math in that requestor.
>Noticed that checking "doublesided" didn't unghost "facing pages". I'm
>assuming that the page sizes are read from a resource not available to this
>testing prog?

Correct, it has no "brains" behind it. That part is the easy
part (surprisingly I am more worried about the layout and its
adaptability to font/size/skin changes.

> > Then a sample new document requester will open. It should respond to
> > changes in the system "skins" (at least it will if you are running gnome
> > desktop, haven't had a chance to try it with KDE yet) and should adapt to
> > various fonts/sizes. Let me know how it goes for you. This requester is the
> > main work that I am doing for this project. As mentioned before, I am
> > working on a new system that will let us use a single resource definition
> > for all the platforms and all the langauges.
>
>It used the system title bar. I never got that much into weirded out skins so
>not sure about that. It also looked to be using my system font, though I
>confess I forgot about that point until writing up this response -- I have my
>fonts set large for my poor eyes and the fact that I didn't notice anything
>wrong is a good indicator all was well. Didn't have any memory checking going
>at the time to see if there was something wrong there and I have so much
>memory that my simple memory meter on the bar just doesn't register much of
>anything so I'll have to do some more later.

Hmm. I identified it as a modal dialog box. However, I didn't create an app
widget that this gets parented to so that may be the problem. I'll take a
look at that in the real code.

I guess I could put something in that allocated memory to failure and then
tried to back out to see if it can handle that ok.

> > Well, enough for now. Sorry for all the delays. The new level requires that
> > I finialize converting the resource files to the new format. Just got to
> > finish building the tools to do so and finialize a few things. Luckily all
> > the weekend play plans fell through, so I should be around this weekend
> > working on it.
>
>Sorry to hear that plans fell through. I'm antsy for PageStream, but R&R is a
>good thing. I'm taking a 500 mile trip today and returning tomorrow, so no
>more testing from this weekend. Good coding!

Nah, it is really ok. My wife and I both decided that it was better for us
to stay home and get some work done. We got a little fresh snow last night
so we will probably go for a fun sled run but that is about it. I really
want to get the resource stuff done so we can start testing the real thing
It is frustrating because the old rsrc stuff compiles up and runs just
fine on Linux, but of course it is position dependent and not what I would
want to release! It was very ugly!

>Tim Doty

Deron Kazmaier - support@grasshopperllc.com
Grasshopper LLC Publishing -http://www.grasshopperllc.com
PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows

On Saturday 22 February 2003 10:22, PageStream Support wrote:
[snip]
> It is a really big list. I tried to actualy tax some of the system. The
> memory allocations are something like 10,000 allocations of 1000 bytes plus
> some other stuff to check that memory does not get stomped, and the memory
> handles (growable/shrinkable memory) are some 1,000 memory handles that get
> allocated at 1,000 bytes and then shrunk down to 100 bytes and then grown
> up to 10,000 bytes. Again checking memory. The lists create something like
> 100,000 nodes in reverse order and then sorts them then scans them to make
> sure they are sorted and the data is still valid etc. The file writes a
> file in /tmp and then seeks to the beginning and writes some data over the
> start, then checks the file size, and closes the file then reads the file
> start and checks that it is ok and then deletes the file and a few other
> things.

Sounds like a thorough workout! Something I missed the first time around: the
testing date/time gives the wrong month ('1' for January instead of '2' for
February).
>
> One other cool think I just learned about the gnome_vfs library we are
> using for reading/writting! Not only can you load/save files across the
> internet but you can also load/save files in an archive!

cool!

[snip]
> >The sample print requestor was functional in terms of opening and being
> > able to type in it. Sorry, forgot to see if I could do math in that
> > requestor. Noticed that checking "doublesided" didn't unghost "facing
> > pages". I'm assuming that the page sizes are read from a resource not
> > available to this testing prog?
>
> Correct, it has no "brains" behind it. That part is the easy
> part (surprisingly I am more worried about the layout and its
> adaptability to font/size/skin changes.
>
> > > Then a sample new document requester will open. It should respond to
> > > changes in the system "skins" (at least it will if you are running
> > > gnome desktop, haven't had a chance to try it with KDE yet) and should
> > > adapt to various fonts/sizes. Let me know how it goes for you. This
> > > requester is the main work that I am doing for this project. As
> > > mentioned before, I am working on a new system that will let us use a
> > > single resource definition for all the platforms and all the langauges.
> >
> >It used the system title bar. I never got that much into weirded out skins
> > so not sure about that. It also looked to be using my system font, though
> > I confess I forgot about that point until writing up this response -- I
> > have my fonts set large for my poor eyes and the fact that I didn't
> > notice anything wrong is a good indicator all was well. Didn't have any
> > memory checking going at the time to see if there was something wrong
> > there and I have so much memory that my simple memory meter on the bar
> > just doesn't register much of anything so I'll have to do some more
> > later.
>
> Hmm. I identified it as a modal dialog box. However, I didn't create an app
> widget that this gets parented to so that may be the problem. I'll take a
> look at that in the real code.

I thought to check the resizability of it this time. narrower/wider worked
fine, but it didn't adjust shorter/taller -- that is, the vertical placement
did not change with vertical sizing. Other than that it looked great!

I guess I forgot to mention that I am running SuSE 8.1 with KDE for the
desktop environment.

Tim Doty

Just for your information the test passed through on my Mandrake 9.0
running KDE ..... well except from the the month was shown as january
(should be february).
--
Mvh
Anders

Thanks! I missed the month off by one! Fixed!

I have the next three libraries that I am writing test program for now (and
of course finding bugs . Everything but the display library. Found
another error in the OS library for building paths (something I didn't
check in the first test program because I didn't have a decent way to
specify paths.)

>Just for your information the test passed through on my Mandrake 9.0
>running KDE ..... well except from the the month was shown as january
>(should be february).
>--
>Mvh
>Anders

Deron Kazmaier - support@grasshopperllc.com
Grasshopper LLC Publishing -http://www.grasshopperllc.com
PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows